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EUREKA, CA — Stan Dame faced many challenges when he was asked to manage Sanders Funeral Home, a firm that has been in business for 102 years in Eureka. He could not have known the myriad of obstacles that he would face in renovating the facility that had been a converted Victorian home.

Undaunted, Mr. Dame forged ahead, fortified by 25 years as a hospital corpsman in the United States Navy. After retiring from military service, he entered funeral service, graduating from Cypress College of Mortuary Science in 1999.

Duncan Stuart Todd, Ltd. joined forces with Mr. Dame to create a 21st century preparation room out of a Victorian shell. Not surprisingly, the preparation room in the home was outdated and unused as such, having become a storage area. The initial challenge was how best to design an embalming room in a very small space. The
end result was a compact single station preparation room that meets all the requirements for functionality and OSHA compliance.

Over the years, the home had been remodeled several times. An unforeseen difficulty was that the floor wasn’t true to plumb, presenting problems that could not have been predicted. To meet this challenge, the room ended up with two drains beneath the floor. Further construction problems involved a slope in the roof that produced a gap and walls that eventually had to be removed all the way to the studs in order to accommodate custom cabinetry.

The permit process turned out to be another of the nightmare challenges Mr. Dame had to overcome. He credits DST with a significant contribution to this step, helping out with codes and regulation issues that could not be refuted.

Throughout the process, Mr. Dame relied on DST’s experience and service. And he “was glad he did.”

Sanders Funeral Home serves a population of 129,000 on the north coast of California. Mr. Dame’s civic work in- cludes his role as Lt Gov. of Ki- wanis, Division 20, as well as supporting veterans groups.

For more information, call (707) 442-2941 or email at sandersfh@gmail.com.